This week, China returns to the Moon with the Chang’e-6 mission, making the first-ever attempt to collect samples from a site on the far side, near the lunar South Pole. SpaceX also plans to keep up its high cadence with the launch of the long-delayed WorldView Legion satellites from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California. Additionally, two further Starlink missions are scheduled to launch this week, with the second Starlink mission possibly completing a record-breaking sub-three-day turnaround for Vandenberg. Lastly, no launch permit was issu ..read more

In a recent update to the NASA Advisory Council Human Exploration and Operations Committee, the agency provided updates on several key aspects of the Artemis I through IV missions. This included updates on Starship timelines and efforts as SpaceX readies to conduct the final tests of the fourth Starship Flight Test. NASA Advisory Briefing Amit Kshatriya, Deputy Associate Administrator of NASA’s Moon to Mars program, elaborated on the agency’s observed progress of the Human Landing System (HLS) efforts undertaken by SpaceX. A render of the Starship HLS, on the Moon. (Credit: SpaceX) Starship ..read more

During the last full week of April, forthcoming launches include two Starlink missions planned on Monday and Friday, and another two more Falcon 9 flights lifting customer satellites. The first of these is the delayed WorldView Legion 1 & 2 mission which was originally due to fly last week and is now scheduled for Wednesday. The first Starlink mission of the week will also see another milestone reached with the 300th landing of a Falcon 9 booster on the Group 6-53 mission. The fifth Electron to launch this year will carry two demonstration missions into two notably different orbits on Wed ..read more

After the historic IFT-3 launch in March, the Starship program is proceeding with plans to fly Ship 29 and Booster 11 on IFT-4, potentially in May, while future versions of the vehicle are starting to take shape. STARSHIP FLIGHT 4 PREPARATIONS Following the successful static test firing campaigns of the ship and booster, both vehicles are in the Starbase production area being worked on to prepare for the upcoming fourth flight of Starship itself. Ship 29’s static test firing at Starbase suborbital pad B on March 25, 2024. (Credit: BocaChicaGal for NSF/L2) Ship 29 fired all six engines for ..read more

With seven Falcon 9 launches flown this month already, SpaceX’s rapid pace continues with another three flights planned for this coming week. There are two planned launches on Wednesday, April 17, from both the east and west coasts, and another on Thursday, April 18. Additionally, a Chinese Chang Zheng 2D launched on Monday. Not content with breaking new cadence records in the first quarter of the year with an impressive 31 launches, SpaceX continued to reach new milestones last week. The company celebrated the first 20th launch and landing of a booster with B1062 during the Starlink 6-49 mis ..read more

The second week of April not only has a long-awaited total solar eclipse but also orbital launches from Russia and the United States. Besides the long-awaited NROL-70 Delta IV Heavy finale, there was to be a test flight of the Russian Angara rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia and a handful of Falcon 9 launches. Delta IV Heavy’s final flight with a mission for the National Reconnaissance Office on Tuesday, April 9 has now taken place. The NROL-70 and Angara flights were both scheduled for Tuesday, April 9 – although the latter scrubbed with a few minutes remaining in the count – wh ..read more

On Sunday, April 7 SpaceX launched the Bandwagon-1 rideshare mission from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at 7:16 PM EDT (23:16 UTC). This flight carried 11 spacecraft for six customers, including a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite for South Korea. The payloads are heading for a 45.4 degree inclination, with at least one deployment orbit at around 590 kilometers in altitude. SpaceX has not released details of the second stage operations for this flight. It is possible there will also be a lower deployment altitude for some payloads. The Falcon 9 booster used ..read more

SpaceX has kicked off 2024 breaking records and setting new standards for its operations. The Falcon family of rockets achieved 31 launches in the first quarter of the year putting the company on track to complete 125 launches by the end of 2024. SpaceX also debuted a new crew access tower for Dragon and launched two more crew flights to the International Space Station. SpaceX’s Starship rocket also completed its third flight, reaching space once again, and successfully completing its ascent burn for the first time. In the first quarter of 2024, the company’s Starlink constellation also saw a ..read more

Peparations for the fourth flight of Starship are in full swing, with Ship 29 having completed its engine testing campaign, while Booster 11 has now rolled to the Orbital Launch Pad (OLP) to complete its own engine test campaign. Ship 29 and Booster 11 After rolling out to complete its engine test campaign, Ship 29 performed two static fires. The first one involved normal six-engine static fire to verify all the engines. The second static was a single-engine burn from the header tanks. Once its engine test campaign was completed, Ship 29 was rolled back to the High Bay, where final launch pr ..read more

After SpaceX achieved a record-breaking 12 Falcon 9 launches in March, the company aims to continue this cadence during April. Missions in the next week include a Starlink flight, a mystery-shrouded launch from China, then another three Falcon 9’s toward the end of the week — two more Starlinks and the first of a series of new mid-inclination rideshare missions,  Bandwagon-1. Finally, the much-anticipated second launch attempt of the final Delta IV Heavy carrying NROL-70 is now scheduled for the very end of the week after ground equipment issues delayed the first attempt. The high cadenc ..read more